Everyone is familiar with the environmental and social costs of forest fires; in summertime, the prime fire season in the West, there are regular news stories about people losing their homes and thousands of acres ablaze. The economic costs both in lost homes and property and who pays to put the fires out are enormous and growing. As many as 90 percent of wild fires in the United States are caused by humans, according to the U.S. Department of Interior. Some human-caused fires result from campfires left unattended, the burning of debris, negligently discarded cigarettes and intentional acts of arson. The remaining 10 percent are started by lightning or lava.
Severe forest fires have increased in frequency over the past decade, resulting in substantial losses of property and human lives. In 2013, 47,579 wildfires burned over 4 million acres, with California, North Carolina, Oregon, Montana and Arizona experiencing the most wildfires, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. On June 30, 19 firefighters were killed while working to contain the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona. This was the deadliest event for firefighters since 9/11 and the third-highest firefighter death toll attributed to wildfires. A massive wildfire that began near Yosemite Park in California on August 17 had burned over 255,000 acres and was designated as the state's third-largest wildfire. The December 17 fire in Big Sur, Calif., burned 917 acres and more than 30 homes.
The increased severity of fires, combined with continuing development in, and near, forests, puts many more communities at risk and has substantially increased both the difficulty and cost of fire suppression. Expenditures on fire suppression by the U.S. Forest Service alone have exceeded $1 billion in five of the last seven years. And in 2009, nearly $2 billion (48 percent of the agency's budget) is to be targeted at fire management, up from $300 million (13 percent) in 1991.
While no single technology or remedy will prevent tragedies caused by wildfires, any technology or system that could provide for earlier warnings, coordinate responses by firefighters, and improve fire fighter safety would be helpful in the ongoing fight to prevent, contain and manage wildfires.